Australian Journalist
Release date: 10 June 2023
Cross-countries of a different kind
One tropical afternoon in Penang, Malaysia, I dialed in and connected with journalist and former financial analyst Su-Lin Tan who happened to be 688KM south on the Singaporean equator. We bantered and chatted about life, work and her youth cross country commuting just like Crazy Rich Asians actor Ronnie Chieng from Johor Bahru (southernmost tip of Malaysia) to Singapore for a better education. I met Su-Lin at an Australian Malaysian Singapore Association talk in Sydney’s Chinatown, accompanied by Malaysian curry chicken and mee goreng. It was refreshing to meet an Australian reporter with a distinct Southeast Asian heritage. You can pick it up from her editorial.
Family life
In our conversation, Su-Lin discussed her dad and shared fond memories of her mum who raised four children and was an amazing family cook. Su-Lin remembers her mum’s delicious giant Bao and how she also tailored all of the clothes for her and her siblings. Her Ah Ma (Grandma) gifted Su-Lin with stories from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s including tragic tales of the Japanese occupation. Her neighbours, the local sundry shop owner and baker in Malaysia were her ‘Aunties’ and ‘Uncles’. In Malaysia and Singapore, it’s common to call neighbours aunties and uncles as a form of respect, even though they are not relations.
Work life
At the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Su-Lin wrote on housing and commercial property, and Asian investments. This one in 2017 titled, ‘Yes, Chinese people love money (but probably not for the reasons you think)’ gives an inkling about what Su-Lin writes about.
“The first lessons my Chinese father taught me were the art of saving and the importance of making enough to take care of yourself, your family and your future…
Like many Asian parents, my father wanted me to choose one of four careers – accountancy, medicine, engineering or law – because they are the best way to achieve his first lessons. (I complied with his wishes and became an accountant before I found my second calling.)…”
She is a qualified accountant and worked in financial services both in London and Sydney before becoming a journalist. A Chartered Accountant, she is conversant in Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia and Hokkien. Su-Lin’s experience as a business journalist can be traced back to her first job as an auditor at Ernst & Young in Melbourne. Her career progression led her to various fund managers in London and Sydney. Soon after the turn of the millennium, Su-Lin joined then Fairfax Media as a journalist and there started her burgeoning career as a thought-leader in writing critical and often poignant pieces that have aroused attention from different factions of Australian political commentators.
She holds a Masters in Arts (Journalism) from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Su-Lin joined the South China Morning Post in 2020 and one of her first articles published in February that year offered a silver lining for Sydney entrepreneurs in light of a crisis, a month before borders closed in March 2020; Coronavirus could provide silver lining for Australian daigou retailers looking to tap China market | South China Morning Post (scmp.com)
By November later that same year, the silver lining was replaced by a grey cloud with a new report; Australia’s anti-China witch hunt isn’t just harmful, it turns people against each other as governments escape scrutiny | South China Morning Post (scmp.com). As a result of such coverage, it’s not uncommon for journalists like Su-Lin to encounter social media trolls, keyboard warriors who hurl insults at reporters who try to present a fair and balanced perspective.
Her curriculum-vitae is clear cut. Her focus lies predominantly in business, economics and political reporting, also opinion pieces that offer a thorough insight into key issues that matter across the Asia Pacific region written from Australia to Hong Kong and now Singapore.
Career milestones
Senior Correspondent, Asia and Economy,
South China Morning Post (Feb 2020 – present)
Journalist (Property/China/Asian business) / AFR BOSS columnist
Australian Financial Review (Mar 2014 – Dec 2019)
The Future
Su-Lin and podcast host Jasmine marvel at the vastness of the South China Sea seen through Google Maps and discuss ways to move forward for China and Australia. They also chat about possible career changes for Su-Lin, her retirement plans on an island and what the future may hold for this brilliant journalist.
The show wraps with Su-Lin reading an excerpt from an article she wrote about life growing up crossing borders between Malaysia and Singapore, a journey that would sometimes take up to seven hours of daily commute, all for the sake of a prized education and a better life.
Su-Lin currently resides in Singapore but calls Sydney home.
Connect with Su-Lin Tan: SLT (@SuLin_Tan) / Twitter.
About the Listen by Heart Podcast
You have been listening to Jasmine Low’s Audio Journey experience, an AFT Podcast production.
Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform and if you’d like to encourage us on, find out how you can support the production. Thank you.
Our purpose: Listen by Heart Podcast is an audio project that sets out to record and archive stories from women of the South China Sea, an area of much interest lately. As we document and record all of these stories, we will also be digitising and creating an online presence for women of Southeast Asian heritage and honouring the women who came before them.
Listen By Heart Podcast aims to serve as the Sentinels of the South China Sea, keeping our region at peace.
Production Credits
An open-source project created, narrated and produced by Jasmine H. Low (jasminelow.com).
An AsiaFitnessToday.com Podcast Production.
Supported by GoInternationalGroup.com.
Website by WebPROjx.com.
#ListenbyHeart | https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com
Would you have a tale to share or know somebody who does? Do you identify as a woman with heritage from the nations encircling the contentious South China Sea? Wherever you are in the world, we’d love to hear from you…
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